If you accidentally delete
a file from your V or Z drives, you can now restore an earlier version of the
file yourself – without opening a help ticket or waiting for help!

Overview:

A new service introduced
with Windows 2003 Server is Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy (VSS). SLAC users of
our central file system can now restore deleted or changed files or folders on
your own without creating a Help Track request. VSS copies are created daily at 5:00AM,
12:00PM and 5:00PM, so copies of changed files and folders are created 3 times
a day, 7 days a week. You can access the previous versions of files or folders
stored on the central file servers via the 'Previous Versions' tab in the
'Properties' applet.

SCCS will still continue to
maintain our regular tape backup schedule.If you cannot find the deleted file or folder you need in the Previous
Versions list, please submit a HelpTrack so we can
look for it in our tape backups.

This document gives
step-by-step instructions on restoring deleted or changed files or folders.

*NOTE* When you restore the file or folder
to the original location, this will overwrite the current version of that file
or folder. It is recommended you restore information to a new
location. Also, when you restore from a previous version, once you have
restored the file or folder, it is removed from the previous versions tab.

Restoring Files or Folders:

Step 1: Identify a file
or folder to restore

Identify the file or folder
to restore (Note: if a file was deleted it will not show up unless you use the
"View" button on a folder in step 3). To restore a file or folder,
right click on a file or folder and click “Properties”.

Example of restoring an
entire folder:

Example of restoring a
single file:

Step 2: Viewing
Previous Versions

After opening the “Properties” window, click on the “Previous Versions” tab.

Step 3: Viewing File or
Folder

Preview the file or folder to make sure it is the
information that you want, highlight the version of file or folder you wish to view and click on
the view button.This screen shows up to
64 copies of the file or folder (Copies are only created if the file has
changed).

STEP 4: Restoring File or Folder

Once you have determined
which file or folder to restore, highlight the file or folder you wish to
restore, click on either the Copy or Restore buttons. Details and
ramifications of each action are listed below:

(Note: you cannot restore a
file or folder that you do not have write access to).

View: This is to open the file or folder
to view it. This is a handy action if your not sure which file or folder
you wish to restore or to view the contents before restoring or copying the
file.It is recommended that you use the
view function to find the version of the file or folder you are looking for
before copying or restoring it.

Copy: This option allows you to copy the
file or folder to some other location that is not the original location.
This is handy when you need to get information without over writing the current
copy.

Restore: This action restores the selected file
or folder to the original location, over writing the current file or folder in
that location. Unless there is another backup of the file or folder, all
currently in the file or folder is lost and is reverted back to the state of
the Snapshot. Use the restore action with EXTREME
care!

NOTE: Both the
Copy and Restore Actions DELETE that copy of the data. So once you have
decided to Copy the information to another location or you have decided to restore
the information to the original location, that Shadow Copy is removed from the
list and CANNOT be restored or copied again.

Recommendations:

Do steps 1, 2, and 3 once
you discover that you need a file or an entire folder recovered. Before
doing step 4, use the view button to view the contents of the file or folder to
make sure that it is the information you need recovered. Use the copy
action to copy the information to a new location for use. At that point
you can rename the file or folder to ensure that no other information is
accidentally deleted. Use the Restore action ONLY if the file or folder
was deleted. If you use the restore action and the file or folder exists,
then the entire content is reversed to that copy.